{Believing is more fun than not believing}

In which Ms. Susan Snowden’s novel sells more copies than Fifty Shades of Grey, Ms. Josephine Humphreys discusses ten very important books, a woman named Lila considers whether happy endings are possible in the town of Raeford, and Mr. Ed Southern chooses to believe in the mystical powers of black eyed peas.

December 30, 2012

Dearest readers,

What is the first book you read in 2013? When we inquired this of the people who follow the ARTS Facebook page, we received a fascinating collection of responses—and a list of books that could well carry one over until the next new year. J.K. Rowling’s Casual Vacancy is high on many people’s tbr stack, but among the other books people told us they were planning to pick up are:

The End of Your Life Book Club
Sometimes a Great Notion
‘Mater Biscuit
Come In and Cover Me
The Panther
Shine Shine Shine
Quiet, the Power of Introverts
Sweet Tooth
Minding the South
Mastery
House at Riverton
Dick and Jane and Vampires
13th Sign
Wolf Hall
Chinaberry Sidewalks
Summer Breeze
Elsewhere
The Song of Achilles
The Round House
Come August Come Freedom
The General’s Son
The Kitchen House
Rainbow Pie

The first book her ladyship picked up for 2013? Birds of a Lesser Paradise by Megan Mayhew Bergman. She finished it in about a day and a half. What, she wonders, was yours?

Noteworthy poetry and prose from her ladyship's bedside reading stack.

More beautiful than proud

Lila pulled out of the prison gates, her body still humming with adrenaline. She didn’t have enough time to go hoome before meeting Clay at the wine bar in town, so she pulled the truck over on the side of the road near the old Edgerton place. The road was empty and she couldn’t see anyone around, so she got out of the car and opened the passenger-side door, which faced the tree line. Lila stepped out of her boots and work pants and for a second exposed the naked body she was still proud of. She slipped the black dress over her head, the soft fabric sliding down her back and falling into place.

She used the passenger-side mirror to do her lipstick, careful to cover the pink, tattooed lines where the swollen flesh of her lip used to end.

To her right, wild turkeys ran through barren fields, fields that once grew cotton and tobacco, fields that someone was too poor or too old to tend. She wiped the lipstick from her teeth.

Maybe tonight would be different. Maybe Clay would take her hand and she’d let him. Maybe, after wine, they’d eat a big meal at Brodie’s, tip like movie stars.
But what kind of woman found a happy ending in Raeford? Lila drove the deserted country road toward the dying town she called home. She imagined Clay’s strong hands on her body again and wished she was more beautiful than proud.

Literary News & Gossip passed along from the readers, the writers, the reviewers, the resellers, the riff raff, and dutifully repeated here by her ladyship (who falls into the last category).

Folkstreams is an incredible online archive of documentary films about American folk and roots music and culture. folkstream.net

share this

Author Gossip

With thoughts of writing a historical novel, she began researching the lives of Sarah and Angelina Grimké, daughters of a wealthy plantation owner, who traveled throughout the United States proselytizing for the American Anti-Slavery Society. The novel never materialized, but her research led to a new career. Gerda Lerner dies at 92

As the highest decorated poet in the land, Trethewey is a Mississippi champion. Her league is “Arts and Letters” and her sport is “poetry,” and though she once cheered her Bulldogs from the sidelines as head cheerleader at the University of Georgia in the late 1980s, the recent honor of U.S. poet laureate puts her on a playing field shared by just a select few. A working writer

My mother and father are 79 and 82 respectively, and in need of more and more of me as time flies. After twenty years of driving through the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina in order to get to them, it is now time to remove those seven hours and those winding roads, that I feel I know every bump and curve of from the equation. After thirty-eight years of being away from South Carolina it is time to go home. Nikki Finney decides to go home

Have the years that I began with greens, black-eyed peas and corn bread been luckier and more prosperous than those that I did not? Well, yes, by and large, as best as I can remember. Do I really believe that this meal has mystical powers? I’d say I believe it for the same reason I believe in ghosts: it’s so much more fun than not believing. And a prosperous New Year to you, too

“I wound up spending four years at Duke under his spell—a spell that will last . . . for the rest of my life. What he gave me, and gave everyone, was a faith in language—as a path to wisdom, as healing medicine, as revelation. Nothing less.” Josephine Humphreys’ Top Ten list

STARS Authors on tour:

What are "STARS" authors? These are authors listing in the Southern Traveling Authors Registration Service--a directory of authors who live in, or are traveling in the South and are interested in meeting with book clubs, civic groups, classrooms, and readers of all kinds. The STARS directory is brought to you by Southern Indie Booksellers, who want to connect readers with their favorite writers.

see the full list online here and find the authors touring in your area here

2012 Bestsellers are all about the local authors at The Fountainhead Bookstore in Hendersonville, NC

Hendersonville can be particularly proud that 6 of these titles were written by Local authors. Additionally, 2 of the titles are by a regional author. In the number one spot, the Miss Julia series is an all-time favorite written by local resident Ann B. Ross. The books, set in the fictional small southern town of Abbottsville, are popular nationwide as attested by the fact that the Miss Julia series consistently hits the New York Times Bestsellers list. In the number two slot, another local author with her debut novel, Southern Fried Lies by Susan Snowden. Although Snowden has been published in many literary journals, this is her first novel. Through shear word of mouth, Southern Fried Lies quickly climbed the bestselling list, even beating out Fifty Shades of Grey. For an extended bestsellers list (which includes a couple more local authors) go to www.fountainheadbookstore.com.

A True History of the Captivation, Transport to Strange Lands, & Deliverance of Hannah Guttentag by Josh Russell

Like the Puritan-era narratives she studies, Hannah Guttentag's early-1990s narrative is a chronicle of the strange places she travels--Nashville, Ithaca, New Orleans, Cleveland, Nebraska--the savages who captivate her--librarians, grad students, professors, her baby--and the redemption she earns.

Josh Russell's previous novels are Yellow Jack and My Bright Midnight. An Illinois native--born in Carbondale, raised in Normal--he now lives in Decatur, Georgia with his wife and daughter.

Snow White Must Die, by Nele Neuhaus
(Minotaur, $24.99, 9780312604257)
“This mesmerizing story comes from one of Germany’s most popular mystery writers. A seemingly normal small town is turned upside down when the body of a young woman is found and the convicted killer of two young girls who have never been found returns home after 10 years in prison. Nothing is as it seems as neighbor turns against neighbor and dark secrets from the past are slowly revealed by the diligent work of two police detectives who fear they have not done enough or worked quickly enough to save lives. Filled with enough twists and turns and motives and means to keep you guessing to the very end!” —Nancy McFarlane, Fiction Addiction, Greenville, SC

The Intercept: A Jeremy Fisk Novel, by Dick Wolf
(William Morrow, $27.99, 9780062064837)
“This debut by Wolf, the award-winning creator of the television series Law & Order, introduces Jeremy Fisk, a detective in the NYPD’s antiterrorism intelligence-gathering agency. After an attempted airline hijacking is foiled by a handful of passengers just days before the President is scheduled to attend a July 4th celebration in New York City, Fisk and other law enforcement specialists surmise that the hijacking was just a diversion. But then who — or what — is the real target? And how can the plan be foiled without knowing the identity of the real terrorist? Time is of the essence in this well written page-turner.” —Ellen Klein, Hooray for Books!, Alexandria, VA

The Boy in the Snow: An Edie Kiglatuk Mystery, by M.J. McGrath
(Viking Adult, $25.95, 9780670023691)
“Highly recommended for fans of Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak series, this follow-up to McGrath’s debut, White Heat, offers a view of the life of Inuits in Alaska. Half-Inuit Edie Kiglatuk is another strong heroine who has a troubled past but tries to do what she can to make things right. I look forward to learning more about what drives her in future books in this series.” —Nancy McFarlane, Fiction Addiction, Greenville, SC

The Great Pearl Heist: London’s Greatest Thief and Scotland Yard’s Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Necklace, by Molly Caldwell Crosby
(Berkley Hardcover, $25.95, 9780425252802)
“This is the true story of the heist of the most valuable pearl necklace in the world in 1913 London by one of the biggest international jewel thieves and the man who sent him to jail. This little-known case is a great read about how Scotland Yard began to use forensic sleuthing to solve crimes as well as a compelling description of how the criminals were almost able to get away with the theft.” —Beth Carpenter, The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, NC

Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe is hosting the event IT'S TIME TO TALK ABOUT IT SERIES ON EATING DISORDERS: EATING DISORDERS & WELLNESS: INTEGRATING THE RECOVERY MODEL WITH YOGA AND MINDFULNESS-BASED INT on 01/15/2013 (13743)

Masthead

Lady Banks' Commonplace Book is a newsletter for people interested in Southern literature, sponsored by booksellers who are members of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) and featuring an overview of literary news and events as found on Authors 'Round the South. Commonplace books first appeared during the Renaissance, where they were used as a way to deal the information overload of that era. They helped students select and organize tidbits of interest--medical recipes, quotes, letters, poems, proverbs, prayers, legal formulas. Commonplaces were used by readers, writers and students, and each commonplace book was unique to its owner. The Lady Banks climbing rose (Rosa banksaie) is ubiquitous throughout the South. It is one of the first roses to bloom in the spring, with its abundant yellow blossoms weighing down its thornless canes. Lady Banks roses have a sweet fragrance and can be found both in the carefully attended gardens of restored antebellum houses and in the ditches along country roads.